Degrees of Freedom

The Origins of Civil Rights in Minnesota, 1865–1912

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, African-American Studies, History, Americas, United States, 19th Century
Cover of the book Degrees of Freedom by William D. Green, University of Minnesota Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: William D. Green ISBN: 9781452944432
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press Publication: May 1, 2015
Imprint: Univ Of Minnesota Press Language: English
Author: William D. Green
ISBN: 9781452944432
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
Publication: May 1, 2015
Imprint: Univ Of Minnesota Press
Language: English

He had just given a rousing speech to a crammed assembly in St. Paul, but Frederick Douglass, confidant to the Great Emancipator himself and conscience of the Republican Party, was denied a hotel room because he was black. This was Minnesota in 1873, four years after the state had approved black suffrage—a state where “freedom” meant being unshackled from chains but not social restrictions, where “equality” meant access to the ballot but not to a hotel or restaurant downtown.

Spanning the half century after the Civil War, Degrees of Freedom draws a rare picture of black experience in a northern state of this period and of the nature of black discontent and action within a predominantly white, ostensibly progressive society. William D. Green brings to light a full cast of little-known historical characters among the black men and women who moved to Minnesota following the Fifteenth Amendment; worked as farmhands and laborers; built communities (such as Pig’s Eye Landing, later renamed St. Paul), businesses, and a newspaper (the Western Appeal); and embodied the slow but inexorable advancement of race relations in the state over time. Within this absorbing, often surprising, narrative we meet “ordinary” citizens, like former slave and early settler Jim Thompson and black barbers catering to a white clientele, but also outsize figures of national stature, such as Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, and W. E. B. Du Bois, all of whom championed civil rights in Minnesota. And we see how, in a state where racial prejudice and oppression wore a liberal mask, black settlers and entrepreneurs, politicians, and activists maneuvered within a restricted political arena to bring about real and lasting change.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

He had just given a rousing speech to a crammed assembly in St. Paul, but Frederick Douglass, confidant to the Great Emancipator himself and conscience of the Republican Party, was denied a hotel room because he was black. This was Minnesota in 1873, four years after the state had approved black suffrage—a state where “freedom” meant being unshackled from chains but not social restrictions, where “equality” meant access to the ballot but not to a hotel or restaurant downtown.

Spanning the half century after the Civil War, Degrees of Freedom draws a rare picture of black experience in a northern state of this period and of the nature of black discontent and action within a predominantly white, ostensibly progressive society. William D. Green brings to light a full cast of little-known historical characters among the black men and women who moved to Minnesota following the Fifteenth Amendment; worked as farmhands and laborers; built communities (such as Pig’s Eye Landing, later renamed St. Paul), businesses, and a newspaper (the Western Appeal); and embodied the slow but inexorable advancement of race relations in the state over time. Within this absorbing, often surprising, narrative we meet “ordinary” citizens, like former slave and early settler Jim Thompson and black barbers catering to a white clientele, but also outsize figures of national stature, such as Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, and W. E. B. Du Bois, all of whom championed civil rights in Minnesota. And we see how, in a state where racial prejudice and oppression wore a liberal mask, black settlers and entrepreneurs, politicians, and activists maneuvered within a restricted political arena to bring about real and lasting change.

More books from University of Minnesota Press

Cover of the book Multiple Autisms by William D. Green
Cover of the book Native American DNA by William D. Green
Cover of the book Voices of Rondo by William D. Green
Cover of the book Body and Soul by William D. Green
Cover of the book On the Existence of Digital Objects by William D. Green
Cover of the book Through No Fault of My Own by William D. Green
Cover of the book Represent and Destroy by William D. Green
Cover of the book The Divided World by William D. Green
Cover of the book Writing Human Rights by William D. Green
Cover of the book And There I Stood with My Piccolo by William D. Green
Cover of the book Japanese Counterculture by William D. Green
Cover of the book Flying Funny by William D. Green
Cover of the book Frozen by William D. Green
Cover of the book The Modernist Corpse by William D. Green
Cover of the book Witnessing by William D. Green
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy